10 Best Bet Technologies
Finding Out What's Bugging Computers
One solution to the rampant problem of buggy software is to test the code thoroughly before its public release, which is a much more complex endeavor than it sounds. "There's not enough time in the life of the universe to check one million lines of code," explains Bell Labs director of systems ...
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Human Responses to Technology Scrutinized
Studies show that people make a strong emotional connection to technology, and tend to anthropomorphize it. Rosalind Picard, director of Affective Computing Research at the MIT Media Lab, stated at a recent American Association for the Advancement of Science lecture, "The way people ...
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Building a Better Bot
Automated machines that work in teams are being developed for such tasks as building scientific outposts on the moon, studying a planet's makeup for signs of past life, and paving the way for space colonization. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory computer scientist Terry Huntsberger is leading ...
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First Quantum Cryptography Network Unveiled
BBN Technologies' Quantum Net (Qnet) was inaugurated on June 3 with the first transmission of quantum encrypted data packets across the network. The Cambridge, Mass.-based Qnet consists of a fiber-optic cable network threaded 10 kilometers from BBN to Harvard University, while the network's ...
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What Is Google's Secret Weapon? An Army of Ph.D.'s
Google, the next challenger to Microsoft's dominance in personal computing, may have an advantage in that its entire culture is infused with research lust: The company famously hires Ph.D.'s and encourages them to pursue independent projects alongside their everyday work at the company. Though ...
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ACM's CHI 2004
The CHI 2004 conference showcased ideas that will transform how people interact with technology, including practical demonstrations and cutting-edge concept presentations; the conference was hosted by the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI), ...
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Once More Please, With Feeling
Brigitte Krenn, coordinator for the Information Society Technologies program's Net Environments for Embodied Emotional Conversational Agents (NECA) project, believes the Internet's appeal could be significantly expanded through more "human" computer interfaces. Her project aims to ...
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Access Patterns Organize Data
Old Dominion University researchers have devised a method that mimics the brain's ability to order information so that connections can be automatically established between digital objects; such a technique could one day enable information repositories to self-organize based on the way ...
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Survey Finds Older IT Employees
A new report by the CIO Council's Workforce and Human Capital for IT Committee suggests that the information technology workforce of the federal government is aging, and may need an upgrade in skills. The approximately 20,000 responses to the Clinger-Cohen Assessment Survey reveal that the ...
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Researchers Build What They Envision as Wearable Computers
Frederic Zenhausern of Arizona State University's Applied NanoBioscience Center and University of Arizona professor Ghassan Jabbour have teamed up to create two prototype "biometric bodysuits" that incorporate microelectronics. The Scentsory Chameleon Bodysuits were showcased last ...
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'NIP' and Tuck?
The federal budget plan for fiscal year 2005 has added more fuel to the debate over innovation, writes Dominic Basulto. The proposed budget would cut funding for research and development for 21 of the top 24 federal agencies, while advocates of innovation are concerned that basic research ...
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A SuperMap for Special Ops--Or Business Travelers
A team of researchers led by computer scientist Craig Knoblock of the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering Information Sciences Institute developed HeraclesMaps, a program that aggregates many years' worth of geographical data and presents it as a ...
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Hacking Sparks Need for Complex Passwords
Regular passwords combined with a variable physical component, dubbed two-factor authentication, are becoming more popular as scammers get more clever about stealing passwords. Those who use static passwords often use combinations that are easy to guess, or use the same password for multiple ...
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Your Next Computer
The evolution of cell phone technology is characterized by a shrinking form factor coupled with increasing intelligence, speed, and connectivity, and this trend is inspiring advocates to forecast the eventual replacement of PCs by mobile phones. This concept is sharply criticized by PC adherents ...
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New Threat, New Defense
The threat of an attack by missiles laden with chemical or biological materials is spurring the development of network-centric warfare solutions, among them a battle management, command and control (BMC2) component for next-generation E-10A ground surveillance aircraft, which the Pentagon ...
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Send in the Swarm
iRobot is developing robots that exhibit group behavior modeled after insect swarms for military applications such as reconnaissance and land-mine disposal with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Software for Distributed Robots project involves the ...
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The Eyes of the Machine
EDN technical editor Robert Cravotta offers up machine-vision systems as an example of real-world data recognition systems, and explains that many factors have to be considered when choosing the best system. Users must select the kind of illumination or signal source that best accentuates and ...
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10 Best Bet Technologies
Network Magazine pinpoints 10 technologies that will likely transform corporate networking, and that are connected in being horizontal, able to benefit the bottom line by boosting productivity and reducing costs, in a nascent stage of development, and likely to remain both radical and ...
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